Ed's grove, or as our family frequently refers to it "The Dupe Shticky", is a fantastic hardware…read morestore containing just about everything you could ever need. Puzzles, knickknacks, goofy stones, cool dragon statue salt shakers, rakes and stuff for out yard. Man this place has it all. Snacks and fancy soap and all! The service is flippin fantastic, everybody in the establishment is mad chill, and would absolutely give me a fist bump in a heartbeat,. The the cashier is super chill and makes good as heck conversation every time we stop in. She remembered me from a year ago! back in our hometown, we always used to go to Benny's, unfortunately they shut down because of something stupid and dumb. Benny's died. this place is just like Benny's on steroids, couldn't get any better absolutely perfect. Deserves a 100% positive rating. Check out the cool video we attached, this is us chopping a tree down with an axe from Ed's

Ed's grove has been in the area forever. This little Gem of a store has everything you could…read morepossibly need from plants, tools, home decor, games, pet food and more.

Very friendly and helpful service at Caravan Beads. There is a huge variety, great for making…read morejewelry, and so many crafts that require beads. It was our time in and we needed some help. The sales person went out of her way to make us feel welcome. There is even a bead museum next to the shop. There is a fee to enter, but they do offer free entry on first Fridays. I'm hoping to check it out. Apparently they showcase artists who are popular on social media. They show the finished piece in the museum. Very cool! Way to support local artists!

A nice stop for beads. Staff were great. They offered lots of local sea glass, beads, books,…read moresupplies and accessories. Located inside the bead store is the Museum of Beadwork. Big names bead artists show their work as well as teach classes. They have their own parking lot.

It is a combination of shows of artists. Very well chosen and hung. Many staff around…read moreto answer questions. The sanctuary is beautiful to see and there are high quality films one can access on the top section of the sanctuary to give one more details. They have allot of special events one needs to sign up for on line. If you go to their website it tells you what is coming up.. Mildred Bachrach

Definitely worth a look. I noticed an earlier reviewer said they had a tour guide, but I don't…read morethink they do that anymore, or maybe not the time of year we visited, which was mid-September. The restored synagogue is beautiful. But in my opinion, there is not much else worth seeing after that.

This place is adorable! Saco is our new 'hometown' and I love that there is a small museum…read morededicated to celebrating its history. The building was erected in memory of a local's parents (I'm foggy on the details) and inside are great bits and bobs of information about this quaint little town. I love to walk through and see furniture, keepsakes, all pieces of Saco's history proudly on display. There isn't a charge for entrance but there is a recommended $5 donation, of which should be gladly given. My suggestion is to go and soak up all you can, but then come back around the holidays to see the Festival of Trees!! Locals can sponsor and decorate Christmas Trees and donate items for auction - the proceeds go on to fund the museum! Our favorite part is to go and vote on the trees and gift shop decorations through the holidays. This year our favorite tree was a 12' tree decorated with nutcrackers saying Merry Christmas in language from all around the world! It's a must see. Make your way over :)

The Saco Museum is one of those small local museums that are worth exploring for an hour on a rainy…read moreday. There's a lot of local period clothing and even a KKK hood from the days when the Klan had a presence in the area. There's also an assortment of natural history items,rocks, fossils, and things like that. This isn't the Smithsonian or anything, but it's interesting for a little while.

Wonderful artwork! The artists are in location! A must stop for any Portland Maine visitread more

Found this gem on a visit from San Francisco. The art is whimsical and lovingly hand crafted. Such…read morea contrast to find human scale and affordable objects that are a welcome change from the West Elm mode. This is a special place for trip gifts and a big reason for Portland's enduring place as somewhere very special. Visit, talk with the artists and enjoy!

Portland Pottery Supply and Studio: great place for all your pottery supplies AND for great…read moreclasses and other clay-related activities. Annual Portland Pottery Holiday Show & Sale happens the 2nd or 3rd week of December. 2015 had over 90 artists represented and 2016 is looking to be another great chance to get hand-made, original, and locally Maine-made pottery and clayworks. If you're interested in a class, those involved say "it's better than therapy!" Clay therapy and great folks to be with for a really reasonable price. Check them out: http://www.portlandpottery.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/Portland.Pottery

I recently moved from NYC to Portland, ME and passed Portland Pottery studio a few times since I…read morelive in the neighborhood and decided to join an intro course. They don't make it very clear in the lottery system if the ceramic class is for hand building or on a pottery wheel. I was not looking to learn anything on the wheel. However, I discovered on the first day that the class was in fact making pottery on the wheel. I decided to give it a go since I had already paid upwards of $300 for the entire course. In my first class, the instructor told me that I was going too slow and that I needed to apply more pressure on the clay. I was even worse in my second class because I have early arthritis symptoms and had severe pain in my wrist during and after the class. I felt like my fingers were getting locked and I was not able to apply pressure on the clay. And for the next 2-3 days after the class I experienced pain in my wrist and fingers. I emailed them about my problem in detail and asked if I can switch to hand building which didn't require working on a wheel. They offered me two choices - one I switch to hand building from mid session, meaning I have already missed 2-3 intro classes. Or I continue working on the wheel. But they can't carry forward my credit to the next round of classes. Neither of these choices made sense as I had no prior experience with hand building and I already told them I couldn't work on the wheel. I wanted to support a small business, but they do not care about anything EXCEPT money. Ultimately, I told them they can keep my money and they did. And also never had the decency to reply to my email after that. FYI: anyone planning to join the pottery class, know that you will need to wait in the line to clean up and the whole process itself takes 30 mins or more, which eats into the time they've listed for the class.

What an amazing place. I've come here twice for the international open mics hosted by Jenny Van…read moreWest and the Portland Culture Exchange, both of whom do amazing things in the Portland community. Portland is already a tiny, tiny place, but the people here make it feel even tinier. If there was ever any truer testament to inclusion and the celebration of diversity, this place is it. It's completely unpretentious and unassuming and the work they do with the local artists and people is just astounding. In just one moment you can be taken from the cold abyss into an embracing place where everyone truly comes together. I've learned so much by just being a part of this space for a few hours and it's really changed my perspective on alot of things. I would recommend anyone who is interested in the interwoven to check out their events. It's all amazing.

Mayo Street Arts is another one of those examples why Portland really is such an amazing community…read more Similar to other arts venues in town, it's a repurposed historic church that's now being used for a host of cool things: craft fairs, music series, puppet shows,(my personal favorite) The Dark Follies (Portland's vaudeville style variety show), and as a community space. (Although, I think Mayo Street Arts [the actual brick and mortar of it] secretly would like to host things like bean supper's and BINGO nights... I'm sure that Portland could bring the cool factor back for both and make them vibrant and welcoming social gatherings like they were 'lo those many, many moons ago, and not exorbitantly priced. Resurgam, guys! Let's do this!). My lone complaint with Mayo Street Arts is the claustrophobia factor I sometimes feel when I'm here. It just always seems like there's a million people at every event I attend here. And bumping into and tripping over people just makes me feel extremely anxious. I think my favorite thing about Mayo Street Arts is the book drop/exchange area outside - it looks like a large mailbox (in my head, I irrationally associate it with the Blue's Clues mailbox... though it looks nothing at all like that [maybe it's just because there's always something wonderful inside it?]), or maybe a breadbox; anyway, when you open it, there are a number of books for you to take. No gimmicks. It's like the "need a penny, take a penny" bowls. If you need a book... take a book. If you'd like to leave a book... well, then, leave a book. This is an actual, thing, by the way. My family - for as long as I can remember - have been leaving our read books all over the world (in Starbucks, in laundromats, on planes, etc). There were some serious gems in the Mayo Street Arts book box the last time I was there, too: a Stephen King, the entire Hunger Games series, the first two Harry Potters, a Kurt Vonnegut, and The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. If you're a reader, please consider passing along your unwanted books through this method!

Before heading to the airport we were looking for things to do (not in the rain) so we found this…read moremuseum. This is a free museum that survives off donations. As we walked in we were greeted by a curator (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) who was amazing. He offered a tour of the museum and stated after his tour we could walk around as we pleased. This man was a wealth of knowledge and even had so good humor to add to the information. I was so intrigued by what he was saying and showing that I didn't even take pictures. Next time we are in town I think we will go back again when we have even more time to spend!

Incredible collection of wartime memorabilia. A museum with a heart, Mr Lee and our guide Chris are…read morevery welcoming. The museum staff makes you feel like family. We spent three hours looking and listening to great stories you cannot read in books. I felt emotional hearing the stories well delivered by Chris. Highly recommend this museum in PORTLAND, MAINE. Leo of California